


Together (We are never alone)

by Sesquipedalian_Bookwyrm



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker
Genre: Because let’s be real it was very sad, Ben Solo lives because I have the power of fanfiction and I say so, F/M, Reylo - Freeform, The true culmination of a movie where the message was ‘the sith are alone but we’re not’, This is a blatant fix-it for sw: tros, Tros fix-it, and I don’t need that, no character death except Darth Sidious
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-22
Updated: 2019-12-22
Packaged: 2021-02-26 03:01:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,708
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21906382
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sesquipedalian_Bookwyrm/pseuds/Sesquipedalian_Bookwyrm
Summary: The force ghosts step in to help out the last two Jedi - because no one can beat Darth Sidious by themselves, and no one should have to.In which Ben Solo and Rey get a happy ending where no one has to fight alone.
Relationships: Kylo Ren/Rey, Rey/Ben Solo, Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Comments: 19
Kudos: 192





	Together (We are never alone)

That was it. It was over. 

Rey lay on the ground, unable to move as Palpatine threw Ben over the ledge. 

Her whole being screamed - but she could do nothing. 

Nothing. 

It was gone. It was all gone. 

She stared at the stars above, at the wheeling ships of a tiny, determined fleet that was so important, and yet...in the whole of the universe, so very small. The universe was so big, so infinitely big.   
  


She felt the Force. 

She had always felt it, of course, but it was different now. She was dying, slipping closer and closer to the edge of nothing. 

She would join Ben. Join Leia, and Luke, and all the others before her. If they would have her. 

The fast-approaching edges of Death broke down her mental barriers, her compartmentalization, her desperation. For the first time, she allowed herself to really wonder if it was her bloodline that prevented the Jedi of Old from speaking to her. Perhaps they considered her as dangerous as she felt. Luke and Leia had known her, and had taken a gamble on her...but the older Jedi? Perhaps they had made the smarter decision and just washed their hands of it all. 

For a moment, she wondered if the stars above were going out - but then she realized that was just the edges of her own vision disappearing into the encroaching blackness. 

She closed her eyes. 

There was a sudden wrenching feeling, exactly like the long-ago feeling of falling from a climb inside a scrapped ship, and feeling the safety line jerk her into a stop above the chasm. 

“Don’t you _dare._ ”

She opened her eyes. 

Luke Skywalker was looking down at her in utter disapproval. She stared at him in shock. 

“You just want to what? Die? Let go? Let Palpatine kill everyone and reign supreme over the galaxy?”

“I can’t-“ she coughed. Her lungs ached, and she felt like she could barely breathe. “I can’t stop him alone.”

His expression softened. “Of course you can’t. Alone is the way of the Sith.”

He reached out a hand to her. Slowly, barely, she managed to lift her own and grasp his. 

His face split into a grin. “And you, Rey, are not a Sith.”

She felt a little energy return to her. She didn’t feel strong enough to move, but-

“You are not alone.”

Someone else leaned into her line of view…but this man, she didn’t know. 

He, too, was a hazy blue - a Force ghost, then? But how? 

He had long hair, and a short beard. He was smiling kindly as he sank to one knee next to her and placed a hand on her shoulder, slowly helping her sit up. 

And then she got to look around, and...and…

She stared. 

There was a haze of blue over the whole scene, and everything was still. 

Palpatine was frozen, a gleeful smile over his features as lightning stood like a silent, motionless pillar into the sky. 

Another blue figure approached her: a bald, dark-skinned man with a stern expression. 

He reached out one of his hands, and she raised the one not in Luke’s to grasp it. 

“Alone, none of us are strong enough. That is why we stand together,” he said as she took it. 

“Who…” her throat and chest still hurt, but the words were coming easier, now. “Who are you?”

“Mace Windu,” said the man whose hand she had taken. 

“Qui-gon Jinn, young one,” said the man at her shoulder. 

“The Jedi of old, we are,” said a new voice, and _oh._ She’d never met this figure, but he was too well known for her not to know him from voice alone. 

“M-Master Yoda?”

“Indeed.”

He, too, reached out one of his hands and laid it on her leg. 

She was staring at them in awe, these figures of lore. She’d spent so long trying to reach them, and now...they were here. 

She swallowed thickly. “Is it time for me to go?”

“And give up that easy?”

The new man had long hair in a ponytail, and he was frowning as he strode over to her. 

“After everything we fought for? Everything we _died_ for?”

“What am I supposed to do?” Rey asked. She was just...so tired. She didn’t want to give up, but what choice did she have?

“Come on. Get up.” His voice wasn’t cruel, but it didn’t leave room for argument. 

She didn’t really want to stand, but something in his tone had her body moving anyway. Mace Windu and Luke pulled her hands, and Qui-Gon Jinn pushed against her back as she struggled. Finally, she managed to stand. 

They stayed around her, holding her up. The new man smiled. 

“Chin up, kid.”

“I can’t win this fight,” she tried once again to convince them. 

“Not with that attitude!”

A Togruta woman had appeared before Rey, a grin on her face. 

“Come on, Rey. You’re strong, and smart. And you’re not alone.”

Rey took a deep breath in. It didn’t hurt as much now. “I’m glad you’re with me. But you can’t help me fight Palpatine.”

“You don’t just have us,” The woman said, then turned to call over one shoulder. 

“Hurry up, slowpokes!”

“Yeah, yeah, hold on!” Was the faint reply. 

Rey was wobbly on her feet, but she turned anyway, confused as to who the woman was speaking with. 

A hand flew over the edge of the pit across the room. 

And then…

And then Ben Solo pulled himself out of the hole. 

Relief flooded her body, and her face broke into a sudden grin as tears pooled in her eyes. He was here now, reunited with his family as a ghost in the Fo-

Wait. 

He wasn’t blue. 

The force legends around her were covered in hazy blue...but Ben was in full, living color. 

The tears started to run down her face. 

His eyes found hers with a laser focus and he slowly, slowly started to limp towards her. 

As he got closer, she realized he was also being supported by two blue figures, one on each side. 

Inch by inch, he limped closer. 

She started to move towards him, and when they got close enough they melted into each other’s arms, falling into a hug and barely managing to support each other. 

“Are...are you... _Ben_ …” she couldn’t even form the question, but he was _warm_ and _here_ and _alive_ -

“Rey,” he croaked, his own voice as rough as hers had been. 

“How…”

“You can’t jump off a building and get away from me that easy,” said one of the men who had been helping Ben, a younger man with a cocky grin. His voice was the one that had responded to the woman’s earlier. 

“Your uncle did that already.”

Luke made a scoffing noise. “I was in shock! You had just cut off my hand!”

The man waved a hand vaguely, jerking his head to the bearded man on Ben’s other side. 

“Been there, done that. Right, Obi-Wan?”

The man rolled his eyes. “I’ve apologized, Anakin. And anyway, you deserved it. At the time.”

Rey clung to Ben as she stared at all of them. Ben cleared his throat. 

“You saved me.”

Anakin’s expression turned somber. “It’s a sorry substitute for leaving you alone all those years, kid. I couldn’t reach you on the path you were on. You tried to talk to me and I couldn’t answer. I’m sorry.”

Ben shook his head. “You saved me.”

Anakin turned distant eyes on the frozen Palpatine. 

“I tried to fight him alone, to save my children. That love was enough to stop him...but I didn’t defeat him.” He turned back to face Ben and Rey, eyes resting on each of them for a long moment. “Finish what I started.”

Mace Windu nodded. “What we _all_ started.”

“But...how?” Rey asked. 

“We’re with you, with the two of you. You have each other, and a thousand ships above this planet who believe in you. You can do this.” Said the Togruta woman. 

“Ben?”

If they hadn’t been clinging to each other, they’d have fallen with how quickly they turned around. 

Leia stood behind them, with a warm and glowing smile. 

Ben opened his mouth, but couldn’t manage anything. 

She opened her arms, and Rey released him as he lurched towards her with a sudden desperation. She caught him, and wrapped him in hazy blue. 

“My son. My Ben.”

He started to sob softly. 

She looked up over his shoulder. “Rey. I am so proud of the both of you.”

Luke smiled at her from Rey’s side. “Leia. Welcome.”

“Luke. It’s good to see you again.”

Leia gave Ben a squeeze. “Come on. We can talk later. For now, it’s time to fight.”

He straightened shakily, looking down at her. “Mom, I’m so sorry-“

She placed a hand over his mouth, gaze soft. 

“Shhh. We can do that later, too.”

Leia helped him limp back to Rey, and shifted his weight to her shoulder. 

“You stand together, understand?”

“We’re not strong enough,” Ben started brokenly, but Leia shook her head. 

“You are stronger than you know.” She shifted out of the way as Master Yoda moved in front of Ben and Rey. 

“Stand together, we do.”

As he said the words, he started to fade, until only a faint blue haze was left. 

The blue haze drifted towards them. 

Rey reached out, and as she touched it - a jolt of energy zapped through her fingers. 

Suddenly she felt Master Yoda’s life, his experiences, in her mind. His story - so very long, filled with wisdom and strength. A Jedi Master all looked up to. 

It felt like a missing piece sliding into place within her, and as the feeling settled, she felt just a little stronger than before. More balanced. 

She glanced to Ben, whose eyes were wide. “Did _you_ just…?” He began to ask. She simply nodded. 

The Togruta woman approached them next. 

“The strength of our history stands behind you.”

She faded as well, and the same blue haze moved towards them, giving them more strength and energy as her story, too, filled their minds. Ahsoka Tano, once padawan of the man who would become Darth Vader. She had spent her life fighting for what was right, with an unbeatable spirit and a strong faith in the Force. 

The man with the ponytail moved up. 

“Fight for this galaxy. Don’t give up.”

Kanan Jarrus, who, much like Ahsoka, had survived Order 66 and had spent his life running from the Empire, trying to help and protect anyone he could. 

More strength flooded them, and Rey squeezed Ben’s hand as hope started to bloom in her chest. She wasn’t sure if they could win; but they weren’t alone. They had the spirits and strength of Jedi past. They had each other. 

Mace Windu stood before them. 

“You’re stronger than you think.”

Qui-Gon Jinn. 

“Trust in each other.”

Obi-Wan. 

“You can do it.”

One by one, their stories slid into place within Rey. It felt like everything she’d been missing when she’d called for them before was suddenly falling into place - she was in the Force. The force was in her. She had _always_ had this connection, she just didn’t know how to reach it before - but now she did. It was a part of her now, and she would never lose it again. 

Anakin Skywalker gave each of them a smile filled with understanding and faith. 

“You belong in the light.”

His story was different from the rest. A tale woven in both the dark and the light, full of pain and loss and sorrow. And yet, even within his story, there was hope, and incredible strength. His last moments spent fighting Darth Sidious - the first and only one in history to defeat him. 

And he hadn’t done it alone. 

Luke had been by his side, and he had fought for Leia as well, for the family Palpatine had kept from him for so long. Palpatine had tried to make him alone, but he was not alone. 

Ben gasped beside Rey as this memory, in particular, settled within their chests. 

As the blue glow from Anakin faded, Rey felt strong. She knew her place in the galaxy, knew what she could do. And she knew who was there to back her up. 

Finally Luke and Leia approached together, side by side. 

“We’re all here within you,” Luke said. “You’re not alone.”

He stepped forward and faded into them, leaving only Leia. 

She gave each of them one last hug, and she smiled as she began to glow, brighter and brighter, her story not simply fading and entering the two of them this time, but filling the whole room with her strength, faith, and love as her parting words echoed around them. 

“May the Force be with you.”

-

As the glow faded from the room, Rey seized Ben’s hand suddenly. 

Leia’s parting had left them with more than just her own story - the Force was flowing through Rey, and she felt not only the intertwining paths of all the Jedi before her, but more than that. Stories of people who had _not_ been Jedi, or even Sith, but who had reached out to the Force all the same. Those who were Force-sensitive through centuries, who hadn’t been able to wield it as a weapon, perhaps, but who had felt and used it all the same. 

Millions and millions of souls all through the galaxy. 

_We are not alone_. 

“ _No_!”

Palpatine’s furious scream brought her back to the ground. 

“You will _die_!”

Rey moved in sync with Ben, their actions a perfect mirror, working in harmony. 

Still holding hands, they reached out their free ones - Rey’s right, Ben’s left, and pulled their lightsabers to them. 

The ignited simultaneously with identical _whummm_ s, and flipped in front of them to block the lightning that arched towards them in the next second. 

Some part of Rey noted that there was no more lightning shooting up at the Resistance fleet, and she smiled. 

It wasn’t easy. Palpatine was strong, so very strong. 

But they were together. 

And together, they took one slow, difficult step closer to the Last Sith. 

“No! You are _weak_ ! I am _all the Sith_!”

His rage echoed around the huge chamber, but Rey and Ben were unmoved. They spoke in unison:

“And _we_ are all the Jedi.”

“But we are more,” Rey continued. “We are millions of Force-sensitive memories you and the Jedi both overlooked, but who are stronger than you know.”

“We are Anakin Skywalker, the Sith you could not tame,” Ben said. 

“The galaxy is full of our friends and allies,” Rey said, feeling and hearing the battle raging above them in the skies. 

“There is only one true Sith,” Ben said after a moment. “They have no friends or allies, only blind followers and pawns. You are alone.”

Rey squeezed Ben’s hand, and he squeezed back, and they spoke together once more: 

“We are never alone.”

They moved closer and closer. Lightning began to bounce wildly off their sabers, some of it catching the Sith lord’s own figure. He snarled and redoubled his energy - but still they kept moving forward. 

When they were only a few feet from him, they stopped, and raised their sabers together. 

Palpatine’s lightning exploded out of the twin blue glows, crackling around him as he gave one last, furious scream. 

And then he was gone. 

Dust drifted slowly to the floor as the light faded until their sabers were the only source of light in the huge chamber. 

Rey deactivated her saber along with Ben and they turned to each other.

And then they kissed, suddenly and wholeheartedly. 

Rey’s brain seemed to have short-circuited, because when they separated, it took her a minute to notice the shriek building in the crowd behind them. But that shriek became a scream, and then a _roar_ of fury and anguish. 

Ben gave her a grin. “Let’s get out of here?”

Rey smiled.

And together, they ran for their ship - they had to squeeze to fit, but they _just_ managed it - and flew home. 

Together, as people should be. 

**Author's Note:**

> I’m debating writing a sort of epilogue where Ben comes back to the Resistance and we see how that goes. (It will go well, I promise. I’m all about happy-ending-wish-fulfillment here — after a little angst of course)
> 
> I love comments with all my heart, so if you’d like to leave anything from paragraphs to keysmashes, I’ll be thrilled!
> 
> Thanks for reading! :)


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